My House Beautiful: A Canadian twist on Italian-modern (with video)

Much like that found in Roman apartments, heated cream-coloured travertine flooring graces the expansive upstairs living area.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

The kitchen opens to a large, airy living area, where the deep red chairs offer a colourful contrast to the island stools’ bright green.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

Accenting the pantry door is a panel by Panache Ceramics and Glass, featuring a scene from the Italian village of Campobasso, where Valeria’s mother and her husband’s parents were born.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

Imported from Italy, this cappuccino maker is the centrepiece of the upstairs kitchen.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

This imposing wood armoire was custom-made by Spruce Grove’s Selenium Interiors for the master bedroom. Walk-in closets are rare in Italy; free-standing armoires are much more common.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

A cheery, apple-green glass backsplash runs the length of the large, open upstairs kitchen, one of two in the Palladino home.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

Grasses in green and copper undulate in this beautiful panel created by Edmonton’s Flux Glass.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

The home has a view of Griesbach’s Patricia Lake, bordered by shrubbery resplendent in fall colours.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

A double-side fireplace on the second level serves to separate the living area from the curved, open staircase.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

Valeria Palladino stands on the curved staircase with stone wall that leads to her home’s modern-Italian second-floor kitchen and living area.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

Gleaming wood inlaid into the living room wall provides a warming accent in the large room, and complements the wood TV stand. Both pieces were created by Spruce Grove’s Selenium Interiors.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

Separating the red Viking range and fan downstairs is a Flux Glass panel designed to represent the swaying grasses around the lake outside the Palladino home.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

The lower-level kitchen is where the Palladino family gathers every day for meals, reserving the upstairs kitchen for bigger celebrations and gatherings.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

Bright green stools by Italian company Calligaris line up along the roomy quartz-topped kitchen island upstairs.Larry Wong
/ EDMONTON JOURNAL

If the heart of the home is in the kitchen, the Palladino family enjoys a double dose of love. That’s because they have not one, but two, kitchens, each of which uses bright colours and custom touches to cheerfully beckon friends and family.

Two kitchens — one upstairs and one downstairs — is a tradition for many Italians living in Canada, along with front-yard gardens and huge weddings. So while homeowner Valeria Palladino was born in Rome in an apartment with a single kitchen, when she and her Edmonton-born husband, Nick — whose parents were Italian immigrants — decided to build their dream home, they knew it would feature double dishwashers, stoves and all.

“The stuff upstairs lasts longer if you don’t use it,” says Palladino with a giggle, echoing what Italian-Canadian families have been saying for generations.

Both kitchens (and the home’s bathrooms) were designed by Heart Kitchens, and each has a style of its own. Upstairs the kitchen is very sleek and modern, with custom-built, apple-green glass backsplashes. In this kitchen is where the Palladino family entertains, often feeding 20 people or more and seating at least half of them at a handcrafted maple table.

The basement is where the nuclear family, including two teenage boys, eats day-to-day. It has a smaller table perfect for four people, and features fire-engine red Viking appliances and a great view of the outdoors.

The Palladino home, located in the historic, military-inspired north Edmonton area known as Griesbach, was built by Coventry Homes near San Fortunato Street. The street is named for a famous Canadian Second World War battle in Italy, the anniversary of which coincides with the birthday of the Palladinos’ eldest son.

“It was a little sign from God that we were meant to be at this place,” says Valeria.

The home overlooks Patricia Lake, where bulrushes sway and golden trees reflect the change of season from summer to autumn. Bright and airy, the main floor has 10-foot ceilings, covers 2,100 square feet and is made for entertaining. Once again reflecting a Roman perspective, the floors are cream-coloured travertine, heated in the kitchen and dining areas.

“To us, it speaks of home,” says Valeria of the travertine. “You will find it in any apartment in Rome.”

The custom-built maple dining table dominates the main-floor space. Surrounded by simple, low-profile chairs upholstered in burgundy and imported from Italy, the table can seat 14 to 16 people and has no seams or leaves. Having a single slab of gleaming wood forming the tabletop was important to Valeria.

“To me, the table was about unity,” she reflects. “To me, it’s where we come together.”

Extra guests at dinner can be seated at the long, cream-and-taupe quartz island, where five comfortable, low-slung Italian bar stools are lined up. The apple-green stools are made by Calligaris, an Italian company, and Italian fixtures of white and bright green (from Studio Italia Design) light the dining and kitchen areas. But perhaps the most outstanding feature of the upstairs kitchen is the cappuccino maker, imported from Italy through Caffe Tech Canada, a small business run from the local café, Leva. No one but Nick is allowed to touch the gleaming tower of stainless steel.

Both the upstairs and the downstairs kitchens feature hand-crafted glass panels. The upstairs example, created by Panache Ceramics and Glass, adorns the door of the pantry and is infused with meaning. It features a tall, rustic tower that is the signature structure in the central Italian town of Campobasso, where Valeria’s mother, and her husband’s parents, were born. Though Valeria and Nick met in Canada, their shared roots seemed to signal good things for the relationship, so they decided to have something built in their new home that would honour that connection between their two families.

The glass panel in the basement is found over the bright red stove and reflects the scene outside the windows, where wild grasses growing around the lake sway in the breeze. It was crafted by Edmonton’s Flux Glass.

Other Italian touches, such as toilets suspended from the walls instead of on pedestals, are situated throughout the home. The living room furniture comes from Italy, purchased at Le Belle Arti in west Edmonton. In Italy, walk-in closets are rare, and wardrobes are common for holding clothes and other items. Valeria commissioned an intimidatingly large, maple armoire in the master bedroom, built by the same craftsperson from Selenium Interiors in Spruce Grove who built the dining room table, as well as the entertainment centre and a wood feature wall in the living room. A concrete-finished gas fireplace provides warmth and light during darkening fall nights.

A 10-foot, handcrafted rock wall was constructed along the curving staircase leading into the basement. The same material is picked up in the downstairs fireplace, which was built by Nick’s father and has become another symbol of the importance of family in the Palladino home.

Liane can be reached at lfaulder@edmontonjournal.com for comments or suggestions for future features on unique or beautiful homes in the Edmonton region.

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